Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Ordination of Deacon Matthew Bun to the Priesthood - Part 1

REPUBLISHED WITH CORRECTIONS: Someone whose opinion I greatly respect and who has more accurate knowledge on the matter has informed me of some factual errors in the post regarding Fr. Jacob Wong. I apologize for the mistake. It was not intentional and originated from a source I accepted in good faith.

The corrected post below.

The previous Friday, we had the privilege of attending the Ordination of Deacon Matthew Bun to the Sacred Priesthood. His is a special case as although he is from the diocese of Penang in the north, he will be serving in the neighbouring southern diocese of Malacca-Johore instead.

The seminarians.

The priests. Including clergy from Fr. Bun's new home, Malacca-Johore.

Fr. Matthew had his seminary training in Taiwan where Mandarin is spoken and spent some time at the local seminary after his return from Taiwan, to familiarize himself with the local Church. We has posted to my parish of the Immaculate Conception for a while and had sessions with the young people where he fielded questions. Good effort.

I also saw him during the many times I attended Mass the seminary chapel. In our conversations, he strikes me as an orthodox and solid Catholic.

The ordinand.

He had requested permission from the Bishop of Penang to be ordained in his cathedral which is also Fr. Bun's home parish. The Bishop agreed. The ordaining bishop, however is the Bishop Paul Tan, SJ of Malacca-Johore.

The Bishop of Penang, His Lordship Antony Selvanayagam.

Present also were bishops Paul Tan, SJ of Malacca-Johore, Archbishop Emeritus Anthony Soter Fernandez of Kuala Lumpur and Bishop Emeritus James Chan of Malacca-Johore who sent Fr. Bun on his way to seminary. The VG's of Penang and MJ were there as well.

The Jesuit Bishop Paul Tan is the only Malaysian Bishop to wear his skullcap, or perhaps the only Malaysian bishop to even possess it. He was the General Assistant for the Jesuit Assistancy of East Asia and Oceania and worked in the Jesuit curia in Rome before being appointed bishop. A scholarly man, he was actively involved in ecumenism, having co-founded the Christian Federation of Malaysia which groups the Catholic Church with the Council of Churches, Malaysia (mainline Protestants) and the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship. He was also instrumental in founding the Malaysian Consultative Council for Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Sikhism which represents and speaks for the non-Muslim population.

The instruction of the candidate replaced the homily. It was read by Bishop Paul with deacon Matthew listening attentively at his side. “My son, you are now to be advanced to the Order of the Presbyterate. You must apply your energies to the duty of teaching in the name of Christ. Share with all mankind the word of God, meditate on the law of god, believe what you read, teach what you believe and put into practice what you teach.”

Accepting the promise of obedience.

The Litany of the Saints, above. Deacon Matthew is prostrate as the Bishop prays over him, below.

Next, we come to the key moment, the laying on of hands, where the Bishops and priests present lay hands of the candidate. Bishop Paul Tan, above, and Bishop Antony Selva below, lead the procession.